The Taming of the Dark Woods [WE Blog]

[Arguleon Veq]

Well with my Beasts blog winding down and most of my Wood Elves built/repaired. I thought I would kick start my Wood Elf blog early. I havent finalised my list yet, but this is the one I used in my first game, trying out a few things.

Since the Council of Light, Athel Loren had been a hive of activity. Spellweaver Eldamari had been shocked by the show of support from the courts of power within the forest, all the great houses had volunteered kinbands and forces for this endevour. It was the continueing visions of the Prophetess Naieth of the doom of Athel Loren that had convinced Ariel of the need for this undertaking, simply hunting the Beasts of Chaos in the wider world had not been enough to effect the strands of fate that would lead to the doom of the Asrai.

Even some of the most bitter forest spirits could see the value in the plan, the world was no longer content to leave Loren in peace and there could well come a time when the forest would be swept away in the fires of industry or war.

Ariel had weakened herself immensly in the creation of the Acorns of Ages, each items of immense power capable of converting the forests of the old world into living, sentient forests like Loren itself. Such an undertaking would not go un-noticed though, such a release of power would be felt across the world by any who could control the winds of magic. The foul Bray Shamans of the Beastmen would no doubt be stirring their Herds into action, desperate not to lose their grips on the forests of the old world which they had tainted and corrupted.

Each Acorn had been entrusted to a powerful and trustworthy Spellweaver, Eldamari, one of the most cosmapoltian of his kin, would be sent north to one of the most tainted forests of them all. The Drakwald. He was chosen because of his cosmopolitan nature, it was hoped that he would, unlike most of his kind, be able to work closely with the people of the land to ensure the survival of his Encalve.

The Acorns would provide an instant link to Loren, no matter the distance, for the Encalves to call for aid whenever the need was dire, their situation untenable. This aid would come in the form of a new formation in the forces of Athel Loren, a standing force for this specific nature. They were christened The Illohir. The Windborn. A swift reaction force that could reach embattled encalves in days rather than weeks, made up of Warhawk Riders and Eagles from the Eyries, Great Wyrms from the hidden valleys and swift riders from the Meadow Glades and the Kings own court.

As Eldamari pondered the problems that simply travelling to the Drakwald would bring whilst he oversaw the preperation of his Encalve volunteers, the last words Ariel had spoke to him and his fellow Spellweavers rang clear in his mind.

You entrusted few, hold in your hands, the future, the salvation, of our people. Of our way of life. You hold in your hands, the heart of our home. For each of you that fail, will see Loren greatly weakened. You are our only hope, you must not fail'


Anyway, game 1; I figure it would be fun to fight a Slaanesh Beast army as I am just finishing up with mine, it had persauded a friend of mine to give them a go, he used to run Morghur or Khazrak lists.

Game 1 - Vs Beasts - 2000 Points

My list -

Archmage; Lvl4, Wand of Wych Elm. Scroll.
Mage; Lvl2, Div Orb, Scroll.
Wraith; Lvl1, +1 Dispel Dice.
Alter; Great Wep, Shield, LA, Helm, Hail of Doom.

10 Glade Guard;
10 Glade Guard;
10 Glade Guard;
8 Dryads;
7 Wardancers;
7 Wardancers;

5 Wild Riders; FC
Treeman;

My opponents list was as follows;

Great Bray; Lvl4, Slaanesh. Braystaff, 2 Stones, Scroll.
Bray; Lvl2, Slaanesh. Staff of Darkoth, Stone.
Bray; Lvl2, Slaanesh. Braystaff, Stone, Scroll.
Wargor[Genera];Slaanesh. Great Wep, Heavy Armour, Horn of +1LD to Ambush.

12 Gor/8 Ungor; FC
12 Gor/8 Ungor; FC
6 Hounds;
6 Hounds;16 Bestigors; Slaanesh, FC, Poison Banner.
4 Minos; Standard, Slaanesh, Great Weps.
4 Minos; Standard, Slaanesh, Great Weps.
Slaanesh Spawn;
Slaanesh Spawn;

Pre Game Thoughts; Wasnt sure what to think really, he had kept 1 Herd to Ambush me with. He had also gotten pretty much every spell he could want for his Brays, he had Spasms twice, Delusions and the Frenzy spell twice. Thankfully I had great magic defense. I would use my Wardancers conservatively in order to deal with his Ambushing Herd. I wanted my Alter to deal with his other Herd and my Treeman to pin his Bestis for my Dryads to flank them.

Deployment; There was a large hill on my left flank. A large wood on my right flank. I placed my free wood near that hill on the left. I deployed all my ARchers central. Riders on my left. I deployed my Wardancers on both sides of my Archer line, so they could get any Herd ambushing in behind or to the flank of the Archers. My Dryads and Treeman were heading right.

He deployed his Spawn [both] on my left, both Minos central, one screened by Dogs the other by a Herd with his Wargor and a Bray. His other Dogs and his Bestis with Great Bray and another Bray were on my right flank facing down my Treeman and Dryads.


Early Game;

He gets first turn and advances, I shut down his magic. One Spawn moves further left, the other cuts into the centre with a big 16'' move.

I advance my Alter towards the centre, and my Dryads and Treeman up the right flank.

My magic kills off 4 Hounds on that right flank with Crows Feast and panics them off the board. My shooting sees me kill that central Spawn, and the central Dogs, this leaves a Hail of Doom shot open on the Minos from my Alter, he does 5 wounds and a mage finishes the wounded one off with his bow.

His Herd arrive on my right at my rear, planning to use the Staff to slam into my Wardancers on that flank then into my Archmage and Archers with an over-run. His lines continue to advance.

He has a good magic phase here, Spasming my Alter to spare his character heavy Herd. He then Delusions my Treeman to spare his Bestis. Thankfully, he doesnt get a double 6 for his Staff of Darkoth spell so I scroll it.

My Wardancers slam into those Ambushing Beasts, my Dryads are also just in charge range of that central character heavy Herd so they charge in, trying to spare my Alter Noble and stopping an over-run that would see the Herd amongst my Archers. My Treeman has to move towards the Illusion created for him.

My magic sees 2 Tree Singings go off on the Bestis in the Wood killing a fair few. Crows Feast does 2 wounds on the Minos. I also get Bears Anger off on my Branchwraith, which will be a huge bonus in the coming combat.

Shooting finishes off those 2 Minos. Strangle Roots kill more Bestigors. In combat my Wardancers smash that Herd and they flee off the board. My Brachwraith has to take the challenge of the Foe Render but does 4 overkill wounds on him thanks to Bears Anger, my Dryads kill 2 Gors and wound the Wargor, I lose a few Dryads back but end up winning by 1. Thanks to having a Wargor as his General he has to test on a 6, fails and is run down and my Dryads over run into his remaining Mino unit.

At this point he conceeds, all he has is an under half strength Bestigor unit, 1 Spawn and a unit of Minos who are about to get killed.

Result - Win

Massacre for the Wood Elves!

Post Game Thoughts; That all went pretty much to plan besides the Treeman getting lured off but that didnt matter as TreeSinging and Strangleroots dealt with those Bestis, sticking them in a Wood by moving it on them and then blasting them whilst they were in it.

My opponent went really magic heavy after seeing my Slaanesh list in action but also wanted Ambushers but to do this he had to sacrifice LD by taking a Wargor as his General. This cost him in that Dryad combat, had he held, he wound have dispelled Bears Anger in his turn, beaten my Dryads and then been right in my Archer line with my Mages and his Bestis could have charged the distracted Treeman free of the risk of Dryads in the flank.

It all really come down to if he could Staff that Ambush unit into me, which he couldnt get an irrisistable for and the fact my Dryads got the charge and Bears Anger on his expensive Generals Herd.

So a great first game for my Wood Elves in a fluffy match up. Not sure whats next for them.

[Deraj]

Well, not having read the report yet, there were just some things I wanted to say before I lost the trains of thought:

1st: Fluff:
The fluff is pretty good, I even like the wild riders, for the fact that they are her husbands worshippers, etc. I love the list from a fluff standpoint. Also, there are some other forests like Loren, most notably one in Brettonia near Mousillon.

2nd: Commands:
I don't see the reason for a champion in the wild riders, but something that I find really useful are champions in wardancers. Wardancers are good at charging head on, as they can do a fair amount of damage, while something that can deny ranks and get a flank hits the flank. When they charge head on, it is good for them to get in a challenge, because 1 on 1, they can kill most champions or heroes, but the increased ws in heroes and such makes it more likely for them to be able to kill more wardancers. This will be extremely useful against chaos mortals.

and 3rd:
...no glade riders? That just makes me sad

[Deraj]

Nov 23, 2009 13:05:32 GMT -5 Arguleon Veq said:

Post Game Thoughts; That all went pretty much to plan besides the Treeman getting lured off but that didnt matter as TreeSinging and Strangleroots dealt with those Bestis, sticking them in a Wood by moving it on them and then blasting them whilst they were in it.

Sorry for the double post, but.... you can't move trees onto someone with treesinging, just fyi. I thought the same thing once, but the rules are actually pretty specific about it, they stop I believe either upon touching an opponent, or 1" away. I moved a forest onto 3 beast chariots once, so trust me, I had to look this one up and memorize it hard

[Arguleon Veq]

Put up the first rough bit of fluff.

I have the Wild Rider champ mainly because I have the mounted Noble model, just to get the numbers up to 6 and it would look odd if he wasnt a champ with how much fancier he looks . If i can find the points for Dancer Champs I will though cos I have the models for those too.

I only have 5 Glade Rider models and they are the old rubbish ones They are in some of my varient lists though. Mainly my Illohir - Windborn list.

Ah, didnt realise y0u couldnt do that, my opponent was pleased I did anyway as it got him a bit further through the Wood which would otherwise have taken him longer to move through, I just wanted to start doing damage to them earlier.

[Arguleon Veq]

Game 2 - Vs Vampire Counts - 2000 Points
My list remains the same.

My opponents list was as follows;

Vamp Lord; 2+ Save, 4+ Ward, Knows Full Lore, +2 Power. Summon Ghouls. Periapt.
Thrall; +2 Power, Helm.
Thrall; +2 Power, Book.
10 Ghouls;
10 Ghouls;
10 Ghouls;
10 Ghouls;
14 Grave Guard; FC, Banner of +1 to Hit.
5 Wraiths;
Varghulf;
Cart; Bell
Cart; Loadstone

The journy to reach the Drakwald had been made relativly easy by the use of the Spirit Paths that can be opened by the most powerful of Spellweavers, such a means of travelling could not be maintained indefinately though as the denzinens of that misty other realm would not allow the Elves to go unnoticed forever, and so upon reaching the great brooding Drakwald itself the Elves continued their journy in the more conventional way. At home beneath the great canopy of one of the greatest forests of the Old World.

Beastmen had mustered and launched attacks but all had been repelled with ease. The Beasts of these Dark Woods unused to fighting enemies with as much skill in the deep woodlands as themselves.

Eldamari and his Spellsinger apprentice Ertai led the force, their magical sight allowing them to search out areas of magical potancy in which the Acorn of Ages could grow and flurish and their search was coming to an end. Both mages had sensed the contained magical energy in the ground for days and the deeper into the forest the force travelled, the stronger it got. Some great magic had been performed near by, ancient and powerful that had left the ground saturated for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Their discovery a few days after picking up the trail explained all. Deep in the heart of the forest the Elves found ancient Barrow Tombs. The resting place of human conquerers from the south having expanded their now long dead empire into these northern realms. Eldamri knew of the history of many races and the remnants of this first of human empires so far north was no suprise to him. The potency in their magics was though.

The Elves were not the only thing that the ancient Tombs had attracted, foul Ghouls had made the place home. Unable to break into the sealed and arcanely guarded Barrows the Ghouls gained some kind of unatural sustenance from the dark powers that kept the Barrows sealed.

Rallying to the most foul and bloated of their kind, and calling forth chilling wraiths of the spirits that had escaped the barrows but had been unable to fully break their magical bondage to the physical world. Even a mighty blooddrinking beast was drawn to the screeching calls of the panicked carrion creatures. The Elves had thought to scatter the Ghouls with ease, their kind not having the stomach for serious opposition, instead prefering to prey on the week to feed the unholy hunger but the Ghouls had nowhere to go, to leave this sanctuary would see them rooted out and hunted down by the Empire of Man.

The two elven mages looked at each other, worry in their eyes, both knew a cornered beast was often the most dangerous.


Pre Game Thoughts; Well this was going to be a very big ask. 12 Power, lots of it with +1 to cast, Lord knowing a full lore. +3 Bound. Even my magic defense cant cope with that. The Hail of Doom also really had to come good vs the Wraiths. I had nothing that could deal with the Graveguard at WS6 so my Plan was to magic missile and Hail of Doom the Wraiths, conserve victory points whilst my Treeman kills the Varghulf for a Minor Win. My Alter and my Riders would try to get round the back of my opponent to hit his vulnerable caster vamps who sit in a bunker of Ghouls behind his main battleline.

Deployment + Terrain; Large hill left flank, large hill centre right. Wood near the hill on the left. He had his Guard in the centre with his Ghouls with Lord, Ghouls on one side of this, Wraiths on myleft. Varghulf far right flank on its own. The Bunker and carts right behind is main two central units.

I had my 3 Archer units across the centre, Wardancers on the flanks of the Archer line, Dryads left, Treeman right, Wild Riders and Alter noble on my left too.

Early Game; I go first to a pretty innefectual shooting phase. He goes and advances on me, my 7 Re Rollable Dispel Dice continually fail me and he raises a LOT of Ghouls.

I crows Feast those Ghouls hitting them for 5 wounds, thats about the most my magic does though, my Hail of Doom then does another 5 wounds and finishes the Wraiths off. I did Beast Cowers his Varhulf though.

He continues his advance, healing the damage i did with shooting.

My Treeman moves to the flank of the Varg and Strangleroots him doing a wound. My Riders and Alter move out around the back of his force. Dryads walk a wood out to his flank.

His Varghulf turns to face the Treeman. One Ghoul unit tries to get a bead on the Wild Riders. His other Ghouls and his Grave Guard keep up their central advance.

Clash of Titans;

Treeman charges the Varghulf. No damage is done either way, he passes his Regen for his crumble wound. I charge the Dryads into his Lords units front, Wild Riders and Alter into the flank. I wipe out all his Ghouls and do 5 Crumble Wounds on his Lord, he passes 4 Wards...

He keeps up that steady advance, desperatly trying to get at my Mages and Archer line. Treeman does 1 ound on the Varg. His Grave Guard charge a unit of Archers, smash them and over run off the board. His Lord holds out in that combat as he is now only fighting the Dryads. The Alter and Riders having been taking out of the combat as they could in no way move in with the Lord after I wiped the Ghouls out.

I charge some Wardancers into a unit of Ghouls, I roll badly and the fightis drawn. Varg and Treeman do a wound each to each other. I also do a lot of shooting damage on his mage bunker.

His Guard return. He gets a lot of lucky Danses off this turn. A unit of Ghouls into the rear of my Riders, a Cart into my Alter. Treeman and Varg fight to a standstill again. Those Ghouls roll great killing 3 Riders I roll awful and only do a single wound, I break losing my banner but I escape. My Wardancers lose badly thanks to a Cart going off even though I only needed a 3+ re rolled to stop it!....I rolled well for my Ld test though and hold. Lord and Dryads hold each other again. Alter wounds the Cart.

Closing Stages;

Riders rally. Treeman finishes that Varghulf on the right flank. Wardancers charge in to support the Alter and they kill the Cart. My other Dancers are reduced to 2 models who again pass their break test despite needing a 4. I shoot down all of his Bunker leaving the Vamps vulnerable but with n o time to kill them.

In his last turn his Ghouls charge the flank of the Dryads fighting his Lord. My Wardancers are reduced to 1 model fighting those Ghouls, he rolls a double 1 to hold!. The Dryads are obvioulsy soundly beaten but also roll low and hold.

I had lost a unit of Archers, Half a unit of Wardancers and a Banner.
I had killed 2 units of Ghouls, a Varg, and a unit of Wraiths.

Result - Win

Minor Victory.

Post Game Thoughts;
Well a very tight game in which I did better than I expected. My rolls in combat were totally awful all game but it was made up for by some very lucky Ld rolls. We thought there were only 30 points in my win but ive since realised I had killed 2 units of Ghouls and not 1. Still if both the Wardancers AND the Dryads had broke, which they probably should have, it would have been a draw. Good old ITP.

It all went to plan though I guess. I killed his Wraiths and Varghulf for a Minor Victory. I am very impressed with how the list is performing so far although my very expensive magic defense did awful this game due to my poor rolling.

[Arguleon Veq]

Game 3 - Vs Tomb Kings - 2000 Points

My list remains the same.

My opponents was as follows;

King; Great Wep, Talisman of Protection. +1 Wound. Item of rolling two dice and picking the highest for incantation power.
Prince; Chariot, Flial, Enchated Shield.
Priest; Casket
Priest; Flying Cloak.

10 Archers;
10 Archers;
3 Chariots;
17 Tomb Guard; FC
19 Tomb Guard; FC Raising Banner.
Bone Giant;
Scorp;

The battle against the Ghouls had been a cagey and cautious affair and casualties had been kept light, Eldamari and Ertai had used their skills to banish the Wraiths and the ancient Treeman Elrond had ripped the Blood Beast limb from limb with his immense strength. Without their most powerful allies to bolster their nerve the Ghouls had slipped away, their survival instincts overridng their lust for flesh to eat.

To the horror of the Elves though, the battle had only just began. The magics unleashed during the clash had finally broken the seals on the Barrow Tombs and rank after rank of perfectly organised skeletal warriors marched from the moss and lichen covered barrows, their bronze armour still shining dully beneath hundreds of years of barrow dust.

One Barrow erupted completely, as an enormous construct of wood and bone burst through the roof. Finally free to wreack the destruction again thats its creation had so clearly been for. Its collosal skull seemingly grinning at the shocked and wavering Elves. As it stepped over the ruined walls of its ancient resting place the Elves began to panic. Chariots pulled by skeletal steeds bearing down on their disorganised lines.

Seeing the danger ancient Elrond plunged an enormous gnarled fist into the soft earth at his feet. Seconds later an eruption of roots exploded up beneath the charging chariots, ripping off wheels or sending them tipping over. Striding into the carnage the Treeman crushed the mumified leader of the charioters with a casual backhand with his enormous oaken arm.

The spreading panic was quelled and the Elves formed up into their batteline, ready to build the halls of their new home over the bones of defeated foes.

Pre Game Thoughts; I wasnt too worried about this game to be honest, I had units that could easily take out the Casket, I should be able to almost fulluy shut out his magic and I could outshoot and probably outcombat his army. My worries were the potential of the bone giant with some lucky rolls and the Scorp which could devestate my archer/mage line and there wasnt all that much I could do about it if it rolled well when it arrived.

Deployment + Terrain; Same terrain is last game. He deployed his casket right in a corner on my left. He teamed each Guard unit with a unit of Archers on its flank with the Giant r ight down the middle, his Chariots on my right. I had my central Archer line, Wardancers on each flank again. Treeman facing up against those Chariots, Dryads, Riders and Alter on the left gunning for the Casket.

Early Game; He goes first and advances, he shoots down 2 of my Archers with his.

I run my Alter and Riders up towards that Casket. I shoot down his more central archer unit supporting the Heirophants Tomb Guard. I do 2 wounds on his Chariots with Strangleroots.

His Scorp arrives right on target and charges my Archers with mage Lord. He tries in vain to blast down my Riders, only killing 1. His Chariots just go fit it and charge my Treeman knowing they will get charged if they dont, either by him of my Dancers on that flank. His Chariots fail to do any damage to my Treeman who smashes down the Prince in return.

That Scorp only does 2 wounds on my mage lord, I only lose by 1 with my Dancers ready to counter charge, I then fail my Ld8 Break test and am run down, giving 550 points up to an 85 point scorp!

My Riders charge the Casket. My left Dancers move to intercept that Giant, here I make a stupid mistake and think WS3 needs 5's to hit WS6 because 2's needs 5's on WS5. So i figure the Giant wont do hardly any damage...

My Riders wipe out the Casket whilst my Alter Hail of Dooms the Archer unit killing 6. My Treeman finishes the Chariots. The other Dancer unit had started to head out towards the Heirophants Tomb Guard.

He moves both his Tomb Guard units up again. He thinks his Heirophants unit is out of my Dancers charge range but tries to incantation his Heirophant away anyway just in case as he is concerned about it now but i dispel it. His Giant charges those other stupidly placed Dancers whilst the Scorp returns to the board and faces more Archers. Giant kills a fair few Dancers but I do a wound back and hold.

Assasination; My Dancers are in charge range of his Heirophants Tomb Guard and the Liche, beating the unit and crumbling some thanks to it. My Riders move to the rear of his Kings Guard whilst my Dryads move out to their flanks. My Alter charges his Archers and finishes them off. My Archers take the Scorp down to 1 wound but it will be free to kill more Archers in his turn. The Dancers lose again but do another wound and hold again.

His Kings unit give their flank to my Riders, rather that than the rear. Scorp charges my Archers, and survives the stand and shoot. His Tomb Guard beat my Dancers and run them down!. His Scorp also wins but fails to break the Archers. That Giant breaks my Dancers but they escape him.

I smash my Alter, Dryads and Ridersinto his Kings Tomb Guard. I kill them all and do some wounds on the King too after crumbling. I shoot up his other Tomb Guard and Strangle Root them, taking them down to only a few models. My Dancers did rally. The Archers, survive the Scorps attacks thanks to me casting Regen on them, they then takes it last wound, using their bows as staves.

The Giant charges the Dancers again and wipes them out.

Closing Stages; I shoot down his Giant but it did Terror off a unit of Archers before it died and kill his King from combat res, wiping him out whilst my Treeman kills the last Tomb Guard.

Result - Win

Massacre!

Post Game Thoughts; Well that all went pretty much to plan in the end, the only drawbacks being my mistakes with the Dancers and that Scorpion getting my Mage Lord and Archers. The Giant was pretty hard to deal with too but I thought that would be before the game. I think he left his Casket a little isolated in order to get more of my units in LOS to it I think he should have protected it more and probably used the Chariots on my Archers instead.

[Deraj]

Yup.... scorpions. Those things always ruin my day because I can never do anything about it other than keep my archers extremely far apart and make use of the lack of penalty for move and shoot. That's one of those little things about welves; always keep moving.

Not to offend, but I'm actually surprised at how poorly you seemed to do overall ;P You need to keep practicing... and by that I mean keep writing battle reports, because these are great!

[Arguleon Veq]

Really dont know if your being sarcastic there , Id have thought 70+% wins was fairly decent.

Game 4 - Vs Warriors of Chaos - 2250 Points

A friend of mine has another tourney coming up but its at 2250, he is taking his Warriors who always seem to get him in the top 3rd no matter what list he takes. This list is the one he is considering using because of the army caps/limitations at the tourney.

The battle with the undead was brief, the fearless Wardancers hacking down the master liche whos magics sustained the skeletal army. Eldamari had suffered a deep wound from a monsterous scorpion construct but loyal Glade Guard had thrown themselves bravely at the beast so that the Spellweaver could be dragged to safety.

The clearing of the Barrows had taken but a few days thanks to the tireless work of the mighty Elrond and with the area clear of taint, the acorn could finally be placed.

The rituals of life were woven and within days of the acorn being planted a mighty tree had grown. The effects on the nearby forest were already telling, now rather than sleeping in a makeshift camp the trees responded to the Treesingers who could coax and pursaude the trees with their haunting songs to form themselves into elegant homes for the Encalve.

Around the budding tree of life a mighty hall was being woven, the court of this new woodland realm. Soon the forest would be alive with a will of its own, which would allow the Elves to call on it for aid, to hide them or to fight for them but untill then this shard of the Asrai future would still be perched on a precipice of destruction. The Asrai, were not the only ones who knew this...


Knur Knell sat upon his disk, legs crossed, hands resting lightly on the haft of his mighty glaive which lay across his lap. His 3 generals sat in a triangle around him, his disk hovering above them in the centre of the triangle. On each he trained one of his 3 eyes, his 3rd eye, in the back of his head, a gift from his fickle patron was trained on his ambitious battle standard bearer sat behind him.

His standard bearer reported his encounter with a shattered bearst herd, who had claimed to have been defeated by Elves and Treespirits. Knur Knell would dismiss this as nothing more than the ignorance of the savage beastmen if it were not for the report of the foul nurgle brothers to his front, sorcerers both. They told him of something growing in the heart of the Drakwald, something powerful and sickeningly pure.

It was already undoing the taint they had spread, Knur Knell had chosen the nurgle brothers for this endevour for their ability to spread rot and disease, as his cults gained power in the towns and villages under the dark canopy of the Drakwald, those who remained loyal to their pitiful warrior god Sigmar would make haste for nearby towns to warn them of the spreading of these insidious cults, but they never reached any other town, they died, choking on their own vomit deep in the woods thanks to the poisonous spores many trees in the forest were now releasing thanks to the taint of Nurgle, or from eating Nurgle corrupted fruit or game and so the cults of Tzeentch were left to grow unchecked, in the deep dark woodlands, away from prying eyes.

Knur Knell could not let his work be revealed before the cults reached a critical mass, he would cast down this new power in the Drakwald, burn it with the flickering fires of Tzeentch.

Exalted; Disk, Eye, Flail, Tzeentch, Shield.
Exalted; Tzeentch, Coller, Steed, Enchanted Shield, Biting Blade.
Sorc; Nurg, Lvl1, Fury.
Sorc; Nurg, Lvl1, 2 Scrolls.

17 Chosen; Slaanesh, Shields, FC, Favour.
17 Warriors; Slaanesh, Shields, FC, Warbanner.
16 Warriors; Slaanesh, Shields, FC.
6 Knights; Slaanesh.
5 Horse; Slaanesh, Throwing Axes.
5 Dogs;
5 Dogs;
5 Dogs;
Shrine; Slaanesh.

Well I now had 250 points to add to my list but was lacking in models besides Waywatchers who I usually hate. So I just had to add 8 Waywatchers and a few Glade Guard to each unit to make units of 11, 12 + 12.

Pre Game Thoughts; I was very concerned about the Disk Rider and those Knights who should be able to smash my lines with impunity should they get there. The plan for the Rider was to try and get some early shots on him with the Waywatchers to killing blow him, failing that, perhaps to get the jump on him with my Alter Noble. The Knights would just have to be lured away and picked off one Knight at a time, probably at the cost of some Wardancers as they are one of my cheapest units.

Deployment/Magic/Pre Game; I deployed my usual set up, 3 Archer units central with Wardancers on each flank, I stacked my left flank though with my Dryads, Alter and Treeman. Facing my stacked flank were all his light cav/hounds. His blocks went central and his Knights on my right. My Free Wood was deployed close to the centre of the table with the Waywatchers in.
I got 1,2,3,6 on Beasts for my Lord, missing out on Beast Cowers which I really wanted for his Knights. I got 1,6 +1 on the Loren lore for my other mages.

His Eye of the Gods pre game roll come up as its usual 11, which of course is modded to 12.

Early Game; I go first and shuffle my Waywatchers Wood up a little, they then let fly with their lethally accurate bows. They target the Disk Rider, and Killing Blow him thanks to being in short range!.

He advances up and I shut down his meagre magic phase, his Axe Horse throw their weapons at my Wild Riders but do no damage.

I smash my Riders into his Horsemen. Killing them all and over running. My Treeman starts to move to try to get behind his blocks and at his Warshrine. My magic is pretty innefectual as is my shooting, I kill a single Knight.

His Hounds decide to go for broke and both units charge my Wild Riders so that 8 Dogs can fight me, they fail to do any damage and are both ran down though. My Riders chasing them off the board. He is now march blocked thanks to my Waywatchers in that central wood and my Treeman to his flank. His Knights try to move up the flank. He does get Buboes off on a Double 6 and takes a wound from my Lvl2 Mage.

The Wild Riders head back towards the action whilst the Treeman keeps heading towards that Shrine. My Archer line moves back slightly. My shooting takes quite a toll on his BSB's Warrior unit.

He moves his Shrine to stop my Treeman rear charging his Chosen. His Knights keep up the game of cat and mouse with my Wardancers.

I blast down all but 2 of his BSB's unit and my Wardancers decide to go for it and charge those Knights. The Treeman charges the Shrine. My Treeman draws with the Shrine after losing a wound, the Wardancers use their Killing Blow dance, kill 2 Knights and lose none in return so they beat the Knights, they break and flee off the board!.

The Line is Breached; His BSB charges out of his depleted unit as he is the only model in charge range of my line, he smashes right into my Arch Mages Archer unit though. He does 2 wounds to my Mage but I hold. My Treeman beats the Shrine and runs it down.

I charge my Wild Riders into the rear of 2 remaining Warriors from the central Warriors whilst my Treeman charges the rear of the chosen. My Wardancers hit the flank of his Warriors on my right, bouyed by their victory over the Chaos Knights. My Wild Riders somehow only manage to beat those 2 Warriors thanks to a Musician and they hold...my Treeman fails and loses combat but holds. My Wardancers do well but still lose combat but they also hold. His BSB finishes off my Mage Lord and runs the Archer unit off the table.

My Treeman is beaten by the chosen and flees!, my Wild Riders wipe out those 2 Warriors though whilst my Wardancers also lose and are ran down.

His BSB returns and with that Treeman running, the game is up in the air again.

In my last turn I charge the Dryads into his BSB and the Wild Riders into his flank. My Alter Noble who had also fled thanks to that Fleeing Treeman rallies but the Treeman fails to rally! and so costs me 285 points. His BSB does enough to stick around against my Forest Spirits.

In his last turn he has nothing to do besides fight with his BSB, he loses combat though and is autobroken by my fear causers.

He has left - Wounded Sorc, Sorc, Chosen, Depleted Warrior Unit.
I have left - Alter, Wounded Mage, Wounded Branchwraith, 2 units of Glade Guard, Dryads, Half Wild Rider unit, 1 unit of Wardancers.

Result - Win

Minor Victory to the Wood Elves.

Post Game Thoughts; Well it wasnt that close in the end, I was just a few points away from a solid victory. The Waywatchers were a great help with that vital early kill on the Disk Rider. He also used his Knights badly and underestimated my Wardancers and let them charge expecting his Knights still to win. His BSB almost saved him though. Getting nearly 500 points on his own. It would have been a draw but for me autobreaking him in his last turn. He is now thinking of putting his BSB on a Daemonic Steed to avoid that.

The Chosen were a pain, as always, I have never played against them when they havent had that 12 result by turn 2. I just cant touch them when they have that going on. So I just tried to stall them with my Treeman but he didnt do that very well lol.

Still, a good result for my Wood Elves, I am very impressed with them so far.

The Waywatchers waited patiently, as they for hours. The young mage Ertai had ensured them that their chance would come. Then they seen it, an unholy Daemonic Disk, flames licking out behind it as it darted through the deep woodlands, each touch of those flames causing agony to the awakening sentience of the forest. Riding upon the disk was their target, the foul creature who would cast down their work, their hope for the future of the Asrai.

Without a sound, the Waywatchers unleashed their deadly cargo, lethal arrows hurtling towards the champion of the changer of ways. Some found their mark in the exposed areas between the thick plates of his armour but the lethal shots, those aimed at his eyes were nochalantly batted away with his glaive. Seeing his fellow Waywatchers lack of success, Ilorik did not release his arrow. The champion come hurtling past them, none the wiser of their positions despite the arrows they had fired at him.

Ilorik was blessed with keen eyesight even for one of his kindred and when he seen it he could not believe his luck. The sudden ripple of movement had alerted him to it, a blink. Now though, he had a target, the foul mutant eye in the back of the champions head was not protected by his mighty glaive. He held his breath and released his shot. Illorik closed his eyes even before the arrow hit home, and turned away. He knew his aim was true, he allowed himself a swift smile of satisfaction as he heard the crash of the rider falling from the disk, and then he was away, moving position so that nobody could get a trace on his location from his shot.

Ertai smiled too, he knew the foul warriors of chaos would tear themselves apart without a leader, especially facing such an elusive foe. Their generals would quickly disagree and come to blows, and then they would be easy pickings.

[Deraj]

Dec 29, 2009 8:21:48 GMT -5 Arguleon Veq said:

Really dont know if your being sarcastic there , Id have thought 70+% wins was fairly decent.

I was jokingly stating that your battle reports are awesome and I like reading them, albeit roundaboutly.

Although reading that you didn't like waywatchers gave me a shock. I don't use them because they're probably the best unit in the army. They're just... always tactically advantageous. Congrats on your win though.

Speaking of battle reports, I kind of hate this site now, as I spent 3 hours typing one, went back to fix some spelling errors, accidentally clicked outside of the text box, and hit backspace. I threw my computer, and now I only have it half redone in word.

[Arguleon Veq]

Lol fair enough man.

Ugh I HATE when that happens it does it all the time to me on Warseer, never had it here though thankfully. Very few things more frustrating, I feel your pain

I just dont think Waywatchers justify syuch a high price tag or a rareslot which also includes Treeman and the always useful Eagle. They did impress me in this game though, they are handy for a lot of reasons as you state but their lack of damage output for such pricey models really annoys me.

[Arguleon Veq]

Game 5 - Vs Orcs and Gobs - 2000 Points

His list is as follows;

Black Orc Warboss; Kickin Boots, Boar, Best Basha, Boss Hat [5+ Ward], Spiteful Shield.
Black Orc BSB; Boar, Iron Gnashers, Enchanted Shield.
Night Gob Shaman; 2 Scrolls.
Night Gob Shaman; Staff of Stealin.

23 Orcs; Shields, FC
23 Orcs; Shields, FC
25 Orcs; Shields, FC
25 Orcs; Shields, FC
20 Black Orcs; Shields, FC, Banner of Butchery.
Bolt Thrower;
Bolt Thrower;
Bolt Thrower;
Bolt Thrower;
Orc Chariot; Extra Crew
6 Wolf Riders; Short Bows

Pre Game Thoughts; Well thats a LOT of Orcs to deal with, he has decent magic defense too. I am fairly confident I will be able to march block and do enough damage with shooting and a few key charges though.

Early Game; He goes first and passes all his Animosity, his Riders, Warboss unit and another unit are heading down my right flank over a long hill. His Black Orcs go central with his 2 other boy units and BSB and Chariot down my left. His Bolt Throwers open up on my Treeman, 3 wounds!. Half points for him already.

My Treeman desperatly head for the cover of the Woods but cant quite reach safety. My Alter Noble darts into the edges of the Woods though. My Wild Riders charge his Wolf Riders who kill 1 with a Stand and Shoot. My Dryads also move down that flank. I focus my magic and shooting on his Blorcs and killa few, I also manage to treesing that wood to cover my Treeman. Wild Riders smash the Wolf Riders and run them down. My Alter lets loose his Hail of Doom on that Chariot, 13 Hits, 5 Wounds.....All but 1 Saved!

He continues on although some units are now March Blocked, his shooting kills an Archer and a Wild Rider.

My Shooting further drops his Black Orcs down to 3 models along with my magic whilst the Treeman lumbers through to the edge of the Woods ready to charge them I shooting doesnt finish them which it doesnt. I do miscast and wound my Mage Lord though.

He gets a great Waagh roll which sees his Boys on my right in charge range of my Wardancers, so he charges in. He kills 2 for 4 losses, I break and run off the board and he follows off the board.

My Alter charges his Chariot whilst my Treeman charges his remaining Black Orcs. The Wild Riders continue to harry his Lords unit on my right flank as they dont want to risk a rear charge from my Wild Riders.

The Alter Noble only needs to do 1 wound to finish the Chariot after my Glade Guard did some damage last turn. His 5 S6 attacks do no damage and he is wounded in return! He then breaks and runs into a Boy unit and dies, the Chariot restrains. My Treeman fairs better and wipes out the 3 Black Orcs and takes their banner, his Overun also takes him out of sight of all but 1 Bolt Thrower too.

Faltering Lines; His Chariot smashes into my Wardancers on my left whilst the Orcs that killed the Dancers on my right return. For the rest of the game this unit is led around by my Dryads with Branchwraith and so both take no further part. That Chariot does 6 impact hits, and kills all 6 then the crew kill my last Wardancer before I get a chance to strike back and takes its last wound!.

My Mages leave the now threatened Archer Line for the safety of the woods. I throw everything at the BSBs unit, I need to cause 1 more wound to cause a panic, I cause 4 and he passes all 4 6+ Saves. My Treeman and Riders move around his Warboss unit so that he will have to expose a flank to one of them.

His Chariot returns and his BSB's unit only fails to charge my Archers thanks to me Tree Singing a wood onto his unit in my last turn to slow his charge.

His Warbosses unit whilst trying to keep both my Riders and Treeman to the front couldnt quite do it and so my Treeman was just in on the flank, it was a risk as he could lose his last wound and that banner but I needed to get out of sight of those Bolt Throwers and if he won it would swing the game in my favour. My Archers manage to shoot down his Chariot but 1 unit is now at the mercy ofhis Boys. The Treeman does fantastic and gets 4 kills, the Warboss and his unit then break and are ran down by him!! his Overun takes him behind some rocks but 1 Bolt Thrower can still see him for my opponents last turn...

Closing Stages; The BSB's boys charge my Archers and run them off the board, his Bolt Thrower with a line of sight to the Treeman hits but fails to wound. Leaving me with -

Wounded Treeman, 2 Mages, Branchwraith, Dryads, 18 Archers, 4 Wild Riders vs 2 Gobbo Shamans, BSB, 1 Depleted Orc units, 2 Full Orc units.

Result - Win

Solid Victory to the Wood Elves!

Post Game Thoughts; Well that was a lot tighter than I was expecting, him not failing animisity besides 1 roll in his first turn and getting a big Waagh at the right time nearly cost me too. As did my bungling Alter Noble. I have to say I was very lucky that the Treeman broke the Warbosses unit in 1 go, otherwise the Warboss would have moved across and killed him. It was pretty much the Treeman that won me the game, taking down 2 units and the enemy general thanks to a couple of flank charges. I did waste my Riders and Dryads in this game but I suppose they held up 2 enemy blocks all game which did come in handy.

My shooting was pretty awful, especially coupled with his insane ability to pass huge amounts of armour saves.

Still the list did its job again, it didnt lose many points and took a lot late on with some key charges.

[wesswll]

Yeah, I know a guy like that, I hit his one remaining High Elf archer with 6 Arrows. He passed all his saves, then caused one wound on my archers, which caused panic, they fell back off the table, and I lost the game. It was probably my most epic fail ever.

On a different note, that treeman is winning you game after game. From the TK chariots to the Varghulf to the warboss, he just sorta crushes everyone. Looking forward to more reports.

[Arguleon Veq]

Game 6 - Vs Brettonians - 2000 Points

I used my Ancient list;

Treeman Ancient; Nestlings, Radiants.
Mage; Lvl2, Div Orb, Scroll.
Mage; Lvl2, Scroll, Scroll.
Noble; BSB, Stone of Rebirth, Sword of Might.

10 Glade Guard;
10 Glade Guard;
6 Wardancers;
6 Wardancers;
6 Wardancers;
6 Wild Riders; FC
8 Dryads;
Treeman;

The Brettonians List as follows;

BSB; Warbanner, Virtue of +1 Res.
Damsel; 2 Scrolls.

9 Knights of the Realm; FC
9 Knights of the Realm; FC
8 Knights of the Realm[BSB]; FC - Banner of move through terrain
9 Knights Errant; FC - Errant Banner
9 Questing Knights; FC
8 Grail Knights[Damsel]; FC
3 Peg Knights; FC

Magic/Terrain/Deployment; Large hill with rocky outcrops on my right flank. Hill on left flank. I deployed my wood in the centre. I got 1+2 on both my mages, quite useful.

He put his Grails and 2 Knights of the Realm units out on my right flank, facing off against my Wild Riders, 1 Unit of Wardancers and both my Treemen and the BSB.

Centrally he had his BSB+Knights of the Realm behind the wood, the Knights errant to my right of them and the Questers to my left of them with the Pegs far left.

I had my Archers quite central with my Mages and 2 units of Dancers + my Dryads out on my left.

Pre Game Thoughts; Well with 5 attempts at Treesinging and 2 Fury of the Forests those central Woods should be a bit of a nightmare for him, unfortunatly he had stacked my right flank. I planned to hold those all up with my Treemen though whilst the Wild Riders supported with flank charges. The Ancient would fight the Grail Knights, issueing a challenge in the first round to spare himself getting too badly wounded by their lances.

Early Game;

Turn 1- I go first and remain quite stationary my shooting kills a lone Knight. My Treemen move the Wood up slightly to allow me to Fury of the Forest it, but I do no damage.

His BSBs unit power most of the way through my central wood thanks to that magic banner. Both his Knights of the Realm on my right move onto the hill for a bit of highground whilst the Grail Knights move around the rocky side of the hill on my extreme right. The Pegasus move to a more central position between the BSBs unit and the Questers.

Turn 2 - My two Treeman move to get right infront of those Knights of the Realm on the hill whilst my Wild Riders move out to the flank of the Grail Knights. My Dryads move out to try and take a charge from the Questers.

My magic sees me Fury of the Forest those Pegs, doing 3 wounds. I also kill a few of the BSBs unit thanks to them being in that wood. My Glade Guard do little, killing one from the BSBs unit whilst my Treemen Strangleroot a Knight of the Realm unit each, the normal Treeman gets 3 kills on the first unit, panicking it!, the Ancient kills 5 from the second unit, panicking those too!

Both units rally. The Questers charge my Dryads whilst the Grails move around trying to get away from those Wild Riders. The BSB's unit are slowed by the Wood. The Errant move up right in front of my Archers, between the two units. The Pegs move right behind this unit for a little cover.

The Questers kill only a single Dryad and lose 2 Knights in return, I break but he doesnt follow as he doenst want to give his flank to my Dancers.

Turn 3 - My Archers units take advantage of those Errants moving to close and simply move forward past their charge arc. My Treemen now start to move around with the Wild Riders to try and pin those Grail Knights down.

My Dryads rally. My Wardancers move behind them, with the Archers behind those, I do this because I know he cant overun twice, so it saves my archers should he smash my Dryads again with those Questers, it would then allow me to charge the flank with my other Dancers before he can fight the Dancers he would over-run into. My Mage moves up to those Dancers on the flank.

My magic blasts that BSB's unit with Fury of the Forest and panicks them. It also kills another of the Peg Knights. My Archers kill off the last. My 2 Strangleroots do no damage at all to those Grail Knights.

The Questers can just trace LOS to my Wardancers with Mage who I positioned for a flank charge should he charge my Dryads, I must have misjudged the Questers charge arc. So they charge in. One unit of Knights of the Realm move back quite central whilst the 4 strong unit moves back towards the hill. BSBs unit rallies.

The Knights Errant turn around and now face the rear of my leftmost Archer unit.

Those Questers do NO damage, I kill 2 back with Killing Blow. He wins thanks to the Musician but I hold.

Mid Game;

Turn 4 - My other Dancers smash into the flank of that Questing Knight combat whilst my Dryads move up to face the rallied BSB unit. Both Archer units turn to face the Knights Errant to my rear whilst my Treeman moves up towards the 4 strong Realm unit and my Ancient and Riders keep harassing those Grail Knights.

My magic and shooting totally blast down that 6 strong Realm unit now they no longer have the blessing and are near the central wood. I smash those Questers, leaving just 1 alive, the Dancers who hit them in the flank chase and catch them getting their banner.

His BSB's unit charge my Dryads.

His 4 strong Realm unit try to charge my normal Treeman but fail their Fear test whilst his Grails have had enough and give their front to my Ancient but in doing so get out of any charge from my Riders.

His Errants smash into my Archers. Who break them, run them down and end up in the Wood with their overrun.

The BSB's unit kill a few Dryads for 1 loss, I break but am not caught, he does overrun into my Dancers with the captured Questing banner though.

Turn 5 - Ancient charges the Grail front whilst my Wild Riders charge the flank of those 4 Knights of the Realm. The other Treeman moves to the Grail flank ready to charge in my last turn. I focus all my magic on those Errants now in that wood, blasting down all but 2 thanks to that and some Glade Guard shooting.My Wild Riders kill 2 Knights of the Realm but they roll insane courage to hold.

His BSB's unit only kill 2 Wardancers, I strike back using Killing Blow and kill his BSB with it!, I lose combat though but hold.

The Ancient kills the Knight that challenges him and I hold thanks to my nearby BSB.

In his turn, those last 2 Errants head for safety whilst my Ancient kills another Knight and holds again. My Wardancers get a few kills on the depleted unit now no longer with a BSB , the break and I run them down. My Wild Riders wipe out those last 2 Knights of the Realm.

Wrapping Up;

Turn 6 - My Ancient kills another Knight but still loses to static res but holds again.

This leaves him with only 6 Grail Knights and 2 Knights Errant and his Damsel left. I am left with everything besides a unit of Archers and half of my Dryads.

Result - Win

Massacre for the Wood Elves!

Post Game Thoughts; Well that went pretty much perfectly, I thought Psychology was going to be a big player in this game and it come in very handy with him failing enough panic tests to keep his army away from my lines for most of the game, my magic was also fantastic, blasting down swathes of Knights around that central wood.

The Wardancers on my far left were real game winners though, taking 2 charges and ending up killing both units in the end. Very impressive.